Around the League 2019-20 Pt. 2

[KINGS17]

I already covered this. The league is not just the players.



And what if half the league decides they don't want to do it? Bring in the scabs?

Your 2020 Stanley Cup champions: The Dallas Stars
Coach: Cleetus the Plumber
Stanley cup winning goal scored by: Bob from Amarillo

Whether you like it or not, there have already been dissenting voices from the NHLPA about resuming the season. It's naive to think they are all just jumping at the chance to return to normal because KINGS17 thinks it's time.

I wouldn't bring in scabs, but I sincerely doubt half the players on teams in the playoffs would decide they don't want to play.

I never said return to "normal". I said play with reasonable safeguards, and I am not the only person who believes it is possible. If the NHLPA and its members don't want to play, it's their prerogative, but it comes with the associated reduction in salaries due to the 50/50 revenue split.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

I get what you are saying, but we still don't have a vaccine or therapeutic treatment for SARS. What if it comes back with a vengeance? Nothing was done by professional sports leagues, colleges, or high schools back in 2003 when the SARS outbreak occurred.

Society has become too litigious. There should be no liability for professional sports leagues if games are played and players choose to participate. The players are adults, they can decide for themselves individually whether or not there is too much risk.

SARS was wildly different. It was much easier to isolate people who had the virus and could spread it. People were only contagious once they started showing symptoms. As we know, COVID-19 spreads even when people are not showing any symptoms whatsoever.

This containment was possible because sickness followed infection very quickly and obviously: almost all people with the virus had serious symptoms such as fever and trouble breathing. And they transmitted the virus after getting quite sick, not before

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End

 

[Bandit]

No matter how we feel about it as fans--again, it's the difference between the average citizen and someone who has to make sweeping decisions. Instead of citizen-governor, it's fan-commissioner. No league wants to be the one who forced their athletes back and has to face the death of players. It's easy for me to say "just play," but I also don't have massive liability for it.

They're not going to move forward until they're certain they've done everything they can to assure safety.

This is a good point. I gotta imagine that Bettman is getting somewhere close to retiring. I can't imagine he wants to go out on a "whoops just killed some folks" note.

 

[funky]

I am all about calling the season done. Proceed with your draft at its scheduled time or into early July. Let teams figure out the free-agent situation. Start the season on time next year or slightly thereafter.

The big thing right now is to let the players be with their families and be safe.Watch what happens over the next month as the world starts to go back to somewhat normal working conditions and see what the after effect is, what happens with the hit from the second wave and then take it from there.

Why try and Frankenstein this season. Let all the team start on the same page with the same amount arrest next year. Let the draft happen in the young guys know what teams they’re playing for next year.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

The league is in a very tough spot here. Shut down and lose a significant amount of revenue, causing a lowering of the cap and drop in player salaries for the coming season, whenever that will begin. OR piece together some type of playoff this year, reduce the number of games next year and still have cap issues. And not to mention trying to solve a Rubik’s cube scheduling nightmare in the middle of a pandemic.

Next season will also be a mess: shorten it and risk another drop in revenues? How about the AHL and CHL leagues, that rely on ticket sales to stay in business? How are they gonna survive if their seasons are shortened? I feel the NHL teams should fund their AHL affiliates through this difficult time. LA needs to have their propsects play in Ontario and develop. These players are the team’s future.

There are no easy answers here. Things aren’t going to be “normal” for awhile. The draft has to happen soon or they might as well cancel it and just have it in 2021. Again, not a good option IMO.

 

[yankeeking]

Thanks for posting that article chazz ,information without bullshit is helpful and encouraging but I don’t see how we get hockey as we know it for awhile

 

[lumbergh]

Look at us armchair quarterbacks sitting around in an internet message board talking about making a bunch of other human beings perform for our entertainment like monkeys in a zoo.

 

[Master Yoda]

I am all about calling the season done. Proceed with your draft at its scheduled time or into early July. Let teams figure out the free-agent situation. Start the season on time next year or slightly thereafter.

The big thing right now is to let the players be with their families and be safe.Watch what happens over the next month as the world starts to go back to somewhat normal working conditions and see what the after effect is, what happens with the hit from the second wave and then take it from there.

Why try and Frankenstein this season. Let all the team start on the same page with the same amount arrest next year. Let the draft happen in the young guys know what teams they’re playing for next year.

I think people also need to remember that there's a chance that this goes on for over a year. What I mean by that is there may not be a cure or a vaccine for many more months.
So while the rate of infections hopefully will be lower as time passes, we don't really know what the conditions will be when it comes time to start the next season in October.
Now if the situation remains status quo, is the league and the PA prepared to cancel another season?
Are they prepared to wait until a vaccine is developed? Because the risk of a player or other team personnel getting sick will probably still be there.

If they've established that they will not start play because they don't want to be liable, that's not really going away until there's a cure. And even a vaccine, if it's anything like a flu vaccine, may not completely prevent a person from contracting it.

Maybe more players will be willing to play in October than now. Either way, the league has a difficult decision, and it will be scrutinized either way.

 

[Fishhead]

I think we'd all love to see playoff hockey, but really, how much revenue would the league gain from it? Right now I can't see how there would be a gate, in fact it's going to be a losing proposition in that sense because it's still going to cost energy and manpower to stage a game.

There would be some TV revenue, especially in the best case of the NHL being the only game in town, but how much money could they really make? Is it worth the risk? Hard to say. This isn't the NFL or NBA which have huge viewership, or even MLB. It's difficult to predict if enough would tune in to make it worth it.

 

[Bandit]

I think people also need to remember that there's a chance that this goes on for over a year. What I mean by that is there may not be a cure or a vaccine for many more months.
So while the rate of infections hopefully will be lower as time passes, we don't really know what the conditions will be when it comes time to start the next season in October.
Now if the situation remains status quo, is the league and the PA prepared to cancel another season?
Are they prepared to wait until a vaccine is developed? Because the risk of a player or other team personnel getting sick will probably still be there.

If they've established that they will not start play because they don't want to be liable, that's not really going away until there's a cure. And even a vaccine, if it's anything like a flu vaccine, may not completely prevent a person from contracting it.

Maybe more players will be willing to play in October than now. Either way, the league has a difficult decision, and it will be scrutinized either way.

All good points. Even if there is no cure/vaccine/treatment by October we will have a lot more information by then to make a much better decision. Of course there’s no guarantee, but pretty much every other hockey league of consequence has nuked this season, so I’m just not sure what the NHL is trying to prove.

 

[KingsFan7824]

All good points. Even if there is no cure/vaccine/treatment by October we will have a lot more information by then to make a much better decision. Of course there’s no guarantee, but pretty much every other hockey league of consequence has nuked this season, so I’m just not sure what the NHL is trying to prove.

Probably to try and hold out as long as possible, even if it's knowingly just for show. I don't believe they've told anyone to get back to practice anywhere, so if they did eventually cancel the season, they won't have pulled the rug out from anyone. It's keeping the hope alive I guess, which is mostly harmless in this case. At this point, I doubt many people are expecting an announcement about getting the season up and running again soon. Figure if the NHL comes back, the NBA comes back, and MLB starts up, and the NFL says all systems go, it'll be big enough news that you'll hear about it without keeping up with the daily news. So sort of, when you're the big dog(the NHL being the big dog relative to other hockey leagues), there's no reason to officially cancel, when you still have time.

But I also get, just tell us we're not going to see sports as we know them until at least January 2021, and let people get on with their lives. Not that there are many places to go or things to do in the meantime.

 

[KopitarFAN]

I hope a 24-team format means a 7-team lottery, preferably that we would know the results of ASAP.

EDIT: Only downside to doing the lottery sooner, what if things go sideways and they don't play because it's not safe? Those 8 teams kinda get screwed.

 

[kingsholygrail]

If they don't get a move on, it's going to be rather difficult to justify starting back up without ramming right into the next season.

 

[KopitarFAN]

If they don't get a move on, it's going to be rather difficult to justify starting back up without ramming right into the next season.

They are already planning on the 20-21 season not starting until December.

This could start August 1st, finish by 10/1 and they'd have 2+ months before opening night.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[Herby]

Didn't see it discussed anywhere but the Fraser interview on Spittin Chiclets is really awesome. What a great person.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Didn't see it discussed anywhere but the Fraser interview on Spittin Chiclets is really awesome. What a great person.

Winner of 2.5 Stanley Cups. I forgot he was around in 2014.

 

[Herby]

Winner of 2.5 Stanley Cups. I forgot he was around in 2014.

As did I, had totally forgotten he was still on the roster in 2014.

I loved his comments on Doughty and especially Kopitar, if Kopitar had played his career in Toronto, NY or Chicago he is considered one of the best players of the era. But even with the SC wins he gets a little buried being in LA.

I liked his comments on Chicago, not surprising why players just love playing there. Chicago truly was obsessed with hockey for those years, maybe like no other American city in recent memory (having lived in both it topped Detroit, IMO).

Just a player who knew exactly what his role was and seemed to really enjoy and appreciate every minute of it. He told some great stories

 

[deeshamrock]

The NHL's coronavirus pause: The keys to play resuming, latest on the 2020 draft, testing and more

• What happens if someone tests positive (deputy commissioner Bill Daly has said that the NHL wants to get to a point where one or two positive tests won't shut the entire operation down)

I don't see how the players would agree to this and how the NHL would think that would work. Player could be a carrier for 6 days or so before testing postive. So every player on his team and the other team could possibly be infected during that time.

And I am a bit surprised their families are coming, i'm not sure living in a hotel for 2 mos is ideal, under the circumstances.

• 
  
• Players' desires to bring their families with them to hub cities (something the NHL is expected to accommodate)

I'll bet it was spirited and raucous

Lots of issues above the most critical, the testing and infection possiblities. Border crossings, visa issues , players whose contracts expire 6/30.

I get the NHL wants money, but this is just too dangerous, until there is a vaccine. How do you practice social distancing in sports, esp as physical as hockey.

 

[Fishhead]

The NHL's coronavirus pause: The keys to play resuming, latest on the 2020 draft, testing and more

• What happens if someone tests positive (deputy commissioner Bill Daly has said that the NHL wants to get to a point where one or two positive tests won't shut the entire operation down)

I don't see how the players would agree to this and how the NHL would think that would work. Player could be a carrier for 6 days or so before testing postive. So every player on his team and the other team could possibly be infected during that time.

And I am a bit surprised their families are coming, i'm not sure living in a hotel for 2 mos is ideal, under the circumstances.

• 
  
• Players' desires to bring their families with them to hub cities (something the NHL is expected to accommodate)

I'll bet it was spirited and raucous

Lots of issues above the most critical, the testing and infection possiblities. Border crossings, visa issues , players whose contracts expire 6/30.

I get the NHL wants money, but this is just too dangerous, until there is a vaccine. How do you practice social distancing in sports, esp as physical as hockey.

There's obviously going to be a split between players, I'd be curious to see what higher paid guys think vs the lower paid players. The players are going to take a hit here too.

 

[LAKings88]

My question is, if a player tests positive in the middle of a series will they and all in contact with them be quarantined? How will that work?

 

[Bandit]

My question is, if a player tests positive in the middle of a series will they and all in contact with them be quarantined? How will that work?

Just like you imagine: poorly. Returning to play this season with the expectation there will not be a massive outbreak is a total fantasy.

 

[KINGS17]

If the players are concerned about returning in June or July, better cancel next season then as well. In fact, cancel all hockey and professional sports until a vaccine is developed, tested and proven to be completely effective and safe.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Lol, another early round TBL exit coming. What a fragile team.

 

[AnThGrt]

If the players are concerned about returning in June or July, better cancel next season then as well. In fact, cancel all hockey and professional sports until a vaccine is developed, tested and proven to be completely effective and safe.

So never? No vaccine has ever been created in below 4 yrs for anything.... How much money, hours of research, and years now have been put into cancer, HIV, etc with the results that decades later they are still top causes for death in this world. Somethings that helps or better ways to move forward should come. If expecting a vaccine or things to go back to normal anytime soon or in the next year or two good luck. Will provide plenty of time to read up on history and the unlikelihood of a vaccine actually ever being produced for Corona.